Social Media and AI Audit

Is technology shaping me—or am I intentionally using it?

We should evaluate our use of social media and AI in light of Scripture—not merely asking whether we're avoiding obvious sins, but whether we're using these tools intentionally for God's glory and the good of others.

You do not need to discuss every question; you won't have time to do that! The goal is reflection and application, not completing the entire list. Pick the topics and questions that would be helpful to you.

1. My Time: Am I Using Technology Intentionally?

Read: Ephesians 5:15–17; Psalm 90:12; 1 Corinthians 6:12

-In light of Ephesians 5:15-17, what would it look like to apply those commands specifically to social media?

-Think about this last week. How much of your social media use was something you decided to do, and how much of it simply happened?

-What usually causes you to pick up your phone and open social media? Is it a specific purpose, a notification, boredom, habit, discomfort with silence, procrastination, or something else?

-When does recreation become wasted time? Is it a waste of time to spend 30 minutes watching entertaining videos? How do you decide?

-What good things can social media or other technology quietly displace even when the content itself isn't sinful?

-Have you ever picked up your phone to do one thing and discovered 15–30 minutes later that you're doing something completely different? Why are we so susceptible to that?

-Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:12, “I will not be brought under the power of any.” How does that principle apply to social media?

-What would be different about your social media habits if every time you picked up your phone you first had to state aloud why you were picking it up?

-Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” How should the limited nature of our lives affect the way we think about seemingly insignificant five- and ten-minute blocks of time?

-What is one technology habit in your life that is genuinely useful and intentional? What makes it different from mindless consumption?

2. My Heart: What Does Technology Produce in Me?

Read: Proverbs 4:23; Philippians 4:8; James 3:13–18; 1 John 2:15–17

-What does guarding your heart look like when you have nearly unlimited content available in your pocket?

-Think about the social-media platforms that you use the most. How do you typically feel after 20–30 minutes on them? Encouraged? Grateful? Informed? Angry? Anxious? Envious? Amused? Dissatisfied? Nothing at all?

-Are there particular accounts, topics, or kinds of content that consistently produce unhealthy responses in you—even if the content itself isn't necessarily wrong?

-Social media gives us an unprecedented ability to compare our ordinary lives with the carefully selected moments of hundreds of other people's lives. How can that affect contentment?

-Conversely, what kinds of online content have genuinely helped you grow, learn, worship, appreciate beauty, or become more thankful?

-Philippians 4:8 gives categories for what should occupy our thinking. How should that affect what we voluntarily put into our feeds?

-Do algorithms merely discover what we're interested in, or can they also gradually shape what we're interested in? How might that matter spiritually?

-What does your recommended feed reveal about what has captured your attention?

-Have you ever intentionally unfollowed, muted, or stopped consuming something—not because it was inherently sinful, but because you recognized what it was producing in you?

-What is the difference between asking “Is this content wrong?” and asking “What is this content doing to me?”

3. My Words: What Does My Online Communication Reveal?

Read: Ephesians 4:29; Colossians 4:6; Proverbs 15:1; James 1:19–20

-Ephesians 4:29 doesn't merely prohibit corrupt communication; it gives communication a positive purpose: edification. What would social media look like if Christians evaluated posts by that standard?

-Think about your own recent posts, comments, shares, and messages. What do they communicate about what you love, dislike, fear, celebrate, or consider important?

-Are you more likely to say something harshly online than you would if the person were sitting across the table from you? Why?

-Proverbs 15:1 says, “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” How does that principle work in an environment where angry responses often receive more attention?

-Have you ever written a comment or post and later regretted it? What could you have done between writing and posting that might have changed the outcome?

-James 1:19 says to be “swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” Does social media encourage that sequence—or almost exactly the opposite?

4. My Relationships: Am I Engaging With Posts or Loving People?

Read: Romans 12:9–15; Hebrews 10:24–25; Galatians 6:10

-What opportunities does social media give us to “rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep”?

-Think about the past week. Did you learn anything through social media about someone that could have become an opportunity for ministry?

-Why is it so easy to click a reaction on someone's major life event and then immediately continue scrolling?

-Someone asks for prayer online. What's the difference between commenting “Praying!” and actually stopping to pray immediately?

-Think of one person you've recently seen post about something significant. Is there something you could actually do for that person this week?

5. My Thinking: Is AI Helping Me Think—or Thinking for Me?

Read: Romans 12:2; 2 Timothy 2:15; Proverbs 18:13, 15; Acts 17:11

-What are some genuinely beneficial ways you've already used AI, if any?

-Consider these two prompts: “Explain Romans 8 to me," versus, “Ask me questions that will help me carefully observe Romans 8.”

-If AI can summarize a chapter of Scripture in ten seconds, why bother reading the chapter yourself? What happens in personal Bible reading that cannot be replaced by obtaining the information contained in the chapter?

-When would using AI during Bible study be helpful? When might it actually interfere with Bible study?

-What intellectual or spiritual abilities could weaken if we routinely outsource them to AI?

-Conversely, what abilities could AI actually help us strengthen if we use it as a coach rather than a substitute?

6. My Growth: Can AI Make Me Work Harder Rather Than Less?

Read: Proverbs 27:17; Hebrews 5:12–14; 1 Peter 3:15; 2 Timothy 3:16–17

-How could AI be use to help you exercise those spiritual and intellectual abilities rather than bypass them?

-Are there any areas of Bible knowledge that you think you understand well enough that you'd be interested in being tested on it by AI?

-Could AI help reveal places where we have inherited a position without ever personally studying the relevant passages? How?

-Suppose you hold a theological position strongly. What might you gain from asking AI: “Give me the strongest biblical arguments someone on the other side would make. Don't tell me who is right”?

-First Peter 3:15 tells Christians to “be ready always to give an answer.” How can we use AI to become ready?

-How could practicing a conversation with AI prepare you for a real conversation with an unbeliever?

-What could you learn by asking AI to play a skeptic questioning the resurrection, an atheist asking about suffering, a new Christian confused about the Trinity, or a teenager asking why the Bible should be trusted?

-Could you use AI to practice explaining a doctrine to a 7-year-old? What might that reveal about whether you actually understand it?

-What biblical subject would you personally like an AI to challenge, quiz, or debate you about?

7. My Spiritual Disciplines: Am I Creating Tools or Shortcuts?

Read: Psalm 1:1–3; Joshua 1:8; Colossians 3:16; 1 Timothy 4:7–8

-Psalm 1 describes someone who meditates on God's Word “day and night.” What's the difference between knowing what a passage says and meditating on it?

-Could AI give you an accurate summary of a passage while simultaneously making it possible for you to spend less time thinking about that passage?

-How could AI help you establish a spiritual discipline you've wanted to develop but struggled to organize?

-What could you ask AI to create that would help you read more Scripture rather than less Scripture?

-What could AI create that would help your family spiritually?

-What could AI create that would help you retain and apply sermons rather than forgetting them by Monday?

-What spiritual disciplines should we be especially cautious about outsourcing to AI or other technology?

8. Final Personal Audit: What Needs to Change?

Read: James 1:22–25; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:17

-Where is social media or AI currently controlling, distracting, or weakening you?

-Is there something you need to use less?

-Is there something you should actually use more because it could help you grow or serve others?

-Is there an account, app, notification, or type of content that you should consider removing, muting, limiting, or changing?

-Is there someone whose life you've been observing through social media whom you should actually contact?

-Is there a spiritual discipline where AI could help you build a useful structure without doing the discipline for you?

-If someone looked only at the way I use technology, what would they think is important to me?